Baltic is at best a trophy purchase for SGX

WHAT does Singapore's bourse hope to get out of its takeover of the Baltic Exchange?

On the face of it, a lot. Faced with stagnating revenues from its securities business, Singapore Exchange (SGX) has been looking to diversify its revenue base. But since its attempt to purchase Australia's ASX was blocked by that country's Treasurer in 2011, its only completed takeover has been the city-state's energy-trading platform from the government in 2014.

There's also a geographic logic. Singapore is the world's busiest container port after Shanghai and a major hub for trading many of the commodities that fill the holds of the globe's shipping fleet. One-third of the world's traded goods pass through the Straits of Malacca and Singapore. Could there be any better place to situate the global shipbroking industry's central clearing house?